Ethicist heads up birthday honours

AUSTRALIAN Jews have again featured prominently on the list of Queen’s Birthday honorees announced on Monday.

At least 15 of the 540 honours recipients (around 2.7 per cent) are Jewish, including one Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), one Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), five Members of the Order of Australia (AM) and eight Medals of the Order of Australia (OAM).

There was an even spread of recipients across Victoria and NSW, with eight and seven from the respective states.

Philosopher and ethicist Peter Singer was awarded the highest honour, receiving an AC for his work in the area of bioethics, while biomedical researcher John Rasko’s service to his field was recognised with

an AO.

Former Jewish Care (Victoria) president Robyne Schwarz received an AM along with multicultural champion Naomi Tippett, progressive education trailblazer David Cohen, human rights advocate Alice Spigelman and Rodney Hyman, for service to the plant and machinery valuation industry.

Janet Reid (nee Malley), Henry Jolson, Michael Zylberman, Carl Reid, Frank Wolf, Ronald Rosen, Ruth Wisniak and Rosalind Fischl all received OAMs.

For further coverage, see this week’s AJN